Head gasket leak.
 

Hey guys i have a 1992 toyota camry v6xle. The head gasket has a slight leak and the oil looks like milkshake. so i have a few questions if you guys can answer it for me please. How much will it cost to have a repair shop fix it? From a scale of 1-10 what is the difficulty of doing it yourself? And is has anyone used Bars head gasket sealant before and does it work?

If water in the engine oil suggest you not drive the car until fixed. Coolant is very hard on the engine bearings!

What level are your mechanic skills?

Guessing labor would be 6-8 hours at whatever rate the shop charges plus parts. There are two heads thus doing both heads will increase the costs.

You might do an internet search on the engine model, recall this engine model might have a history of head gaskets problems.

The level of difficulty would depend on your skill level. Its a pretty straight forward job but does involve taking off and reinstalling a lot of parts.

Suggest you pickup a Haynes book that covers the engine and read about what is involved in taking the head off. If you do the work yourself and have never done the job plan on spending at least twice the hours on labor.

Most of the cost for a shop repair is labor. If you can do the job yourself you will save a lot of $$.

In my opinion sealants can cause more trouble then the supposed to solve. Would never consider using a sealant unless it was the last resort and no other option was available.

well i haven't been driving it lately, i have another vehicle. my skill levels are body work and bolt on mods. never have i done any internal work besides valve cover gasket which was pretty easy. i would love to take on the task myself thus i have no riches to pay the shop a fortune. i have no more intention of getting the sealant now. id rather fix the problem then to cover it up. if you guys have any links to a forum/s that include steps and pictures of the task it would be great.

I think the engine is a 3VZFE. It was used in from 92-93 for US Camry and until 97 for Camry in other countries.

It supposed to be good engine but apparently prone to head gasket failure due to the original head gasket design

I don't know much about this engine. An internet search will turn up lots of hits on this engine and head gasket issues, also try the Toyotanation website. Your library may have something.

Note the engine was also used in

* 1988–1995 Toyota 4Runner
* 1988–1995 Toyota Pickup
* 1993–1995 Toyota T100

You may have better luck looking for a manual having the specific model engine info for one of these vehicles.

For parts try RockAuto Auto Parts

When searching for a manual make sure it includes this engine model. The US Camry switched the much more popular 1MZ-FE engine on later cars.

Replacing a head gasket is straight forward but time consuming due to all the parts that need to be removed, thus take your time. Have a manual, if possible take notes and mark all the electrical connections, etc.

anyone have personal experience with head gaskets? how long would it usually take?

Ask at the Toyotanation website.

haha well i ended up using the block head gasket sealant. just to see if its the head gasket or not. seems to be a very small leakage. but it is sealed for now.

Great!